


Paws for Thought

by Coconutice22



Category: Supernatural
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Gen, Happy Ending, Puppies, Sam's an awkward dorkward but Jess likes him anyway, Sam's college years, pre-Sam and Jess getting together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-25
Updated: 2017-03-25
Packaged: 2018-10-10 06:38:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10431345
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Coconutice22/pseuds/Coconutice22
Summary: It was a thousand little moments that made Sam fall in love with Jessica Lee Moore.Shameless Sam and Jess fluff set before they're a couple.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Set in Sam's first year of college. I made him an RA, basically resident assistant/resident adviser - aka a student who helps other students often paid or sometimes given money of their rent, it seems to depend on the institution as to how they are reparations and requirements placed on them. 
> 
> And then after already plotting this out realised the system probably works differently in the US to the UK. I couldn't find any specifics against a first year Sammy being allowed to be an RA... um yeah. 
> 
> The puppies mentioned are based on the one my sister has. It is a golden retriever... crossed with ??? but whatever the cross is makes the dog twice the size of normal golden retrievers, heh, though they look identical. She's a bundle of cute, fluffy, loving, destructive energy. 
> 
> With apologies to reality.

Sam had been awake well into the early hours studying and trying to finish a lit paper, so his 6 am wake-up call from whoever was banging on his dorm-room door was not appreciated.

Groaning to himself, he rolled out of bed and shucked on a pair of shorts and a tee.

"Yeah?" Sam grumbled, opening the door and leaning against the doorframe.

"There's barking coming from Jess and Abbie's room again."

"We've been through this before, Melvin. They're just watching videos of puppies on the internet."

Melvin was a chronic pain in Sam's ass. If he'd known people like Melvin existed, Sam might have thought twice before applying to become an RA. Sam could only imagine the response his dad would have given to Melvin's numerous complaints about his fellow students. Most of them would have been along the lines of _point a shotgun at them_.

"You and I both know that's not true! I know the difference between computer audio and a real dog barking!"

Sam used his height advantage to loom over the shorter guy in what he hoped was a vaguely threatening manner.

"Look, I'll do another room check later, when it isn't the ass crack of dawn," Sam paused hoping to engrave his irritation at the time of this complaint into Melvin's brain. "But for now? Get lost! And don't annoy them. Innocent until proven guilty."

"They're guilty as anything!"

"Goodby, Melvin." Sam started to close the door.

"You just go easy on them because they're hot!"

"Goodby, Melvin," Sam repeated with a roll of his eyes as he firmly shut and locked his door.

Sam lumbered back to his bed shedding his make-shift outfit. Snuggling back under his blanket, Sam soon drifted back to sleep, hoping none of the other kids in his section needed help before 8 am at the earliest.

*******

After a few more hours of sleep and a shower, Sam felt more up to dealing with Melvin's concerns, namely Jessica and Abbie.

"Hey, Abbie, Jess, it's Sam. Can I come in and talk?"

"Just a moment!" Came Jessica's voice through the wooden door. She opened the door a tiny amount and peered out at Sam.

Huh. That wasn't like her.

"Um, hi?"

"Hi, Sam!" She beamed at Sam and he felt himself reflectively smiling back.

"Can I come in?" he asked again.

Jess winced. "Only if you promise not to get mad?"

"Jess!" he hissed quietly, eyes darting up and down the corridor to check they were alone.

Jess moved aside so Sam could slip through.

"You both promised you'd have the puppies re-homed by the end of the week, it's Saturday now. Melvin heard barking."

Jess walked over to the room's closet. Sam looked around the room but couldn't see any sight of Abbie.

"I know, and we managed to get places for the others, just this little champ left."

She opened the closet doors and revealed a crate that had been hidden in her's and Abbie's room for the last week.

Sam and Jess had been on a run the previous Saturday morning. Start of the term they both realized they were out at the same time anyway and naturally fell into a pattern of running together. Their normal route took them from the dorms through a nearby park, along a quiet residential area and then back.

That particular fateful morning they'd been near the end of the park when they saw a guy from afar throw a box out of his pick-up before racing off again. It had stuck them both as odd for someone to dump a cardboard box and leave so quickly. Instead of ignoring the box or calling the police like sensible people might, they decided to investigate.

To their mutual shock it had been three puppies. Cold, wet and yet looking otherwise healthy.

“I guess we should take them to a shelter?” Sam suggested, looking at the puppies. Weres and ghouls he could deal with... puppies? What do you do with puppies?

Jess had leaned in and picked one up. It seemed quite content to nuzzle up to her and yapped a little.

“They look like golden retrievers.” She was examining the puppy gently. “But these aren't purebred, not judging on the size. This is too big for a golden retriever pup.”

Sam frowned. “Know a lot about puppies?”

“A little. I grew up on a farm, always plenty of animals around.”

Sam in the back of his mind could see Jess on a horse, hair in bunched, gingham shirt stretched tightly across her– er. He coughed and shook his head a little to free himself of his wandering thoughts.

The other puppies were also barking louder now, seemingly less happy since their brother or sister had been removed.

“Do you know of any shelters around here?” He looked the area as if an animal shelter might just spring up at the park.

“They're not purebred, and given their size, they'll probably grow to be massive.”

“So?”

“Sam,” Jess sighed. “People won't adopt them from a shelter. By the time they get checked over, they'll have grown even more. They'll end up putting the dogs down.”

“We can't just leave them here, and we can't take them back to the dorm...”

Jess bent down to replace the puppy with its siblings. Gently she stroked the other little balls of fluff, brow furrowed as she thought up a plan.

“We can get them privately adopted. Find people to take them.”

“Today?”

“Hopefully. If they're rehoused straight away, given away to loving families, they won't have to go to a shelter at all.”

The puppies looked so happy together, despite the mess of their situation. Despite having just been abandoned.

“We won't find someone today who wants to take on three dogs,” Sam reasoned.

Jess shook her head. “No, not likely.”

“Will they be okay being... separated?”

“They'll get used to it quickly. They'll form new packs with their new families.”

Sam's mind flashed with sudden thoughts of Dean. Of thoughts of Dean by himself while here he was, forming new bonds with the people he'd met at college. He swallowed thickly.

“Fine. Let's get them dry at least. Maybe we can go stand outside the superstore and try there.”

They found the puppies a new box and lined it with a blanket then stood outside the superstore for eight hours trying to charm passing shoppers. Despite all this, they had failed to get even one of the puppies adopted. Sam had learned that college kids trying to give away puppies with no innoculations and no papers was indeed an issue to many people. Despite this, one woman had been interested and she'd taken Jess' cell number, but she'd also said she had to check with her husband first.

“We tried, Jess.”

Jessica's shoulders slumped, her loose hair falling over her face.

“We should consider looking up some shelters. At least we saved them from the side of the road, or from kids finding them and being cruel.”

“Sam,” she pleaded, “we can't take them to the shelter. I understand why they have to put down animals sometimes, I really do, but I feel like I'm responsible for these puppies now.”

Sam rubbed his neck, feeling awkward. “We can't take them with us. I'm the RA, I'll be kicked out if anyone finds out. It contravenes who knows how many rules.”

It felt weird being the voice of authority. But he wasn't kidding. If he didn't have his RA gig, he'd be homeless. He'd have to go back to his dad, tail between his legs, knowing he tried and failed to make it on his own.

"You can't save everyone, Jess,” he tried to reason.

"No,” Jess agreed, “you can't, but you can same some, Sam. Please?" Her eyes shone with such determination Sam felt like he didn't have a choice but to say:

“We'll find a way to make this work.”

And he meant it.

*******

“We'll keep them for now and try to find them a home in the meantime. And if we can't find them a home within the week, we take them to the shelter,” Jess concluded.

So their plan was created. Sam, Jess and her roommate Abbie worked out a schedule so that one of them could always be on puppysitting duty. They figured that was the safest way to keep them hidden. Jess bought a dog crate, food and a few toys for the puppies as well as some puppy training pads for them to do their business on – well, hopefully.

“Right on!” Abbie agreed.

Abbie was always agreeable. Some combination of genetics, upbringing and pot had left her as the most agreeable person Sam had ever met. His upbringing made him a little weary of this, but in this situation it was coming in handy.

“I know you don't want to leave them in a shelter, Jess, but you also know we can't keep them locked up in here forever,” Sam reminded her.

“No,” she sighed, “I know. They deserve to be out in the sunshine. But we have a week, right?”

“Right,” he nodded.

And sure enough, the next day the lady who had seemed interested in the puppies the day before called and took one of them. The other was gone by Wednesday. Jess had mentioned having a lead for rehoming the final puppy and told Sam he didn't have to worry about puppysitting on Friday. Sam, relieved that he could finally relax, had found his mind clearing and he'd taken with great gusto to catching up on all the work he'd been slacking on during his week spent playing with the puppies instead. And the homework had the double effect of letting him block out thoughts of how much he was going to miss that final pup, of how surprised he was at how attached he'd grown in just a few days.

When Melvin woke Sam up that Saturday morning to complain about barking though, Sam figured it meant Jess still hadn't rehomed the final puppy.

Sheepishly Jess reached into the dog container and pulled out–

“Er, Jess, why is he covered in green glitter?”

Jess hugged the puppy to her as he wiggled to get free.

“That was probably what woke Melvin up. This little one here was sleeping on Abbie's bed last night since she was at Brady's. Then he woke up in the middle of the night and went on the rampage.”

“Did he happen to knock over a load of Abbie's protest sign glitter supplies by any chance?” Now he was looking properly he noticed the carpet was itself coated in a fine covering of green glitter.

“Bingo!” Jess laughed.

“The cleaning team's going to be pissed at you guys,” Sam pointed out.

“I'll worry about that at a later date.” She shrugged, finally letting the puppy down to explore.

Sam couldn't help but pick up the little thing as he came over to sniff at Sam's pants.

His hands still felt too huge to be holding such a delicate little thing. His were hands meant for maiming and vengeance, not for glittery puppies who just want to sniff the world. He hugged the puppy to his chest a moment, transferring glitter from its coat onto his shirt, and then put it down again to sniff around.

“I thought you said you had a home for him?”

“I do! I swear. I just need until tomorrow afternoon.”

Sam decided she sounded sincere. Though with Jess he was starting to think his gut instincts were failing him on purpose to ensure he'd go along with what she wanted and to keep her happy.

Sam shifted his weight from one foot to the other, feeling awkward suddenly.

“It isn't that I don't want them to have happy, good homes. I don't want them to go to a shelter and all that stuff you said, how he wouldn't be adopted because it'll be huge by that time... but I really, _really_ , can't lose my RA job.”

He was taken back a moment as Jess flung herself into his arms. “I know,” she said in an almost-whisper. “I know. And you have no idea how grateful I am you've taken this risk for the puppies.”

 _And you_ , he thought to himself.

She stood back eventually and sat down on her bed.

“I don't want to save the world, Sam. But I want to believe that I can save those I set my mind to saving.”

“I get that,” he agreed. And he really did, more than Jess might ever know. “Is that why you want to be a biochemist?”

She laughed, “No, that's just because I know I'll look damn cute in the uniform.”

It would be a few more weeks before Jess would tell him the full story. Of her brother dying when they were both kids. Severe asthma attack. Of how helpless she'd felt.

Jess wasn't delicate. She was strong through her pain. It was something Sam recognized in his brother and father. In the same way that probably colored his own actions too. Pain so raw under the surface the only balm was to help people, to numb the pain through servitude to a greater good.

Sam went with her on Sunday to drop off the final puppy to a family a few blocks from the campus. They'd managed to brush out most of the glitter from his coat by that point. Sam halfway suspected that it'd forever be embedded in the carpet of Jess and Abbie's room though.

The kid who opened the door to the house when they rang the bell freaked out at the sight of the dog crate.

“MOMMMMYYYY THE PUPPYYYYY IS HEREEEEE!” she screeched. Sam took an involuntary step back.

“Alice, I've told you a hundred times! Don't open the door unless I'm with you!” She sounded exasperated but beamed widely at Jess and Sam.

“Hi, Jessica.”

“Hi, Dr Norton,” Jess nodded back.

“Mommy! The puppy!” The little girl was trying to grab for the dog cage Sam was holding. He placed it on stoop and observed as the mom kept a hand on her daughter to stop her shooting out towards the puppy.

“Thanks for agreeing to take the puppy, Dr Norton”

“Thanks for suggesting it.”

“Mommmmmyy can I play with the puppy now?” The little girl was now clinging to her mother's leg.

“Do you need any help or advice?” Jess offered.

Dr Norton (who Sam later found out was Jess' history teacher) let out a laugh.

“No, only with this little one here.” She wiggled the leg her daughter was clinging to. “I had a lot of dogs growing up. Been awhile since I raised a puppy, but I think we got it covered. I wasn't sure I'd ever feel like befriending another dog after my Betsie died a few years back... but Alice has been asking, and then when I heard you mention you trying to find a home, it seemed like fate.”

Sam's heart warmed at the thought. Maybe it had been fate. They were helping this family grow and finding a good home for the last puppy.

They said their goodbyes to the teacher, her daughter and the glitter pup.

“Two's a good number,” Sam said casually.

“Of dogs? Nah, I think five. You want to be able to–”

“Of, er, kids, I mean.”

They were walking close together, hands almost brushing as their arms swung back and forth while they walked.

“What makes you think that?”

“That girl, Alice? If there'd been two of them, one could have distracted Dr Norton while the other one snuck over and opened the dog crate. She'd have gotten to play with the puppy at least two minutes earlier.”

Jess let one of her beautiful laughs. Sam was starting to grow addicted to hearing her laugh.

“I can see that,” she agreed, still giggling. “So, what's the right number of dogs?”

“Depends on the kind of dog. But at least one.”

“Oh, at least.”

“Adopted from a shelter. An older dog, calm, loyal.”

In his mind he was starting to see this image of himself in a few years time. He'd get home from the office, be greeted by his loyal pooch, scratch her behind the ears. Then he'd go cook dinner for himself and–

Sam looked out of the side of his eye at Jessica.

For first time in a long time, maybe his entire life, Sam allowed himself to have a little hope about what the distant future might bring.

  
  


 

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Spncoldesthits WOO! The prompt this month was mine, mwhaha. You'd have thought I'd set it having some idea in mind for a fic?? I did not. I started and re-wrote and scrapped about six fics altogether. I wanted to do something smutty and funny and cracky, but this week has been... just fucking brutal, crap from all side. And then I didn't have it in myself to write anything but fluff and yayness. 
> 
> The theme for the month was mini bingo! Rules can be found [here](http://spncoldesthits.tumblr.com/post/158707565215/spncoldesthits-marchs-prompt-is-mini-bingo)
> 
> My three squares were: Sam gets a dog (well, he did, but *cough* it kinda left), surprise!glitter, and I decided to go for "Jessica Moore is Awesome" for my author choice square. 
> 
> You can find me on tumblr as [perfackles](http://www.perfackles.tumblr.com/) or [coconutice22](http://www.coconutice22.tumblr.com/) for my personal blog.


End file.
